Stampede Kokanee Fishing

Today, we were at Stampede Kokanee Fishing. We ran three trips and took a bunch of Kokanee and a nice Rainbow off the lake. We caught Kokanee from 16 to 72 feet deep. The fish were scattered, not stacked like some of the previous trips. We caught them on almost everything we put down, the best setup was a Watermelon Sidekick with a Pink Radical Glow tube, all tipped with Pink Fire Corn. On our last trip of the day we were 200 feet off the boat ramp. The wind came up making it a challenge but we picked up a nice Rainbow on the last pass. If you would like to book a trip with Captain Rick Kennedy of Tight Lines Guide Service go www.FishTightLines.com for more info. Call (888) 975-0990

Stampede Kokanee Fishing

Stampede Kokanee Fishing continues to be fantastic. We’ve set up camp and been fishing Stampede for the last few days. The bite has been the best I’ve seen it in years. The fish are starting to school but it seems like no matter where you go the Lowrance screen is loaded with fish. Today, we had quick limits and also spent a little time with one rod deeper for Mackinaw. We only landed one Mack that was about 16″ and had another grab. The small mackinaw took a Berkley Gulp Minnow trolled behind a Pro Troll Flasher. Our Kokanee today were caught on Small RMT dodgers and Sep’s Sidekick dodgers with Pink Gamakatsu Spinners and Uncle Larry’s Spinners all tipped with Pautzke Fire Corn. We caught fish from 32′ to 55′. Call Captain Rick Kennedy of Tight Lines Guide to book your Stampede Kokanee Trip.

Stampede Kokanee Fishing

Captain Rick Kennedy has been on Stampede Kokanee Fishing the last couple days. What an outstanding Kokanee bite. The Kokanee bite was as aggressive as I think I’ve ever seen it. The fish were stacked in some spots like I haven’t seen in years. The last time I remember schools of Kokanee like this is when Ted Samford was still guiding on Stampede and we use to jig for them. For the first time in many years I broke out the Kokanee jigs. We caught fish trolling and jigging. These fish we fighting a lot harder than they were a week ago. They averaged 13” but were all nice fat fish. The fish we caught trolling were down 38 to 61 feet. Our best set up’s were a RMT Watermelon Tsunami Dodger with a Radical Glow Tube and a Sep’s Fruit Salad dodger with a Uncle Larry’s Mad Irishman spinner all tipped with Pautzke Fire Cured Corn. Our best jigging was today 50 yards from the boat ramp in 60’ of water. www.FishTightLines.com

Donner Lake, we launched at 5:15 AM and spent the first hour fishing the top 25′ of water for Mackinaw. With no action we switched over to Kokanee. Overall, it was a great bite. We landed limits for our two clients and lost well over 15 others. Not sure why but they just wouldn’t stay on. I talked to a friend last night that experienced the same thing yesterday. We also landed and released a Mackinaw that was around three pounds. The Mackinaw gave a nice fight on the Kokanee gear. All our fish today were caught on Seps Watermelon Dodgers and Uncle Larry’s spinners along with RMT spinners behind Shark Cannonballs. Our corn today was Pink Pautzke Fire Cured Corn. Our best depths today were 28 to 38 feet. www.FishTightLines.com

Donner Lake KokaneeWe started at 6:00 AM and headed over by the Loch Leven Lodge where we found some good schools of Kokanee on Sunday. They were gone! We searched that area and only marked a few fish. The wind was already starting to blow. We went ahead and dropped the rigs down to 35′ where we were marking a few fish. We managed to get our two clients limits of Kokanee in this area but it was not the same kind of action we had Sunday. I had planned to fish for Mackinaw later today, however, the with the wind getting stronger every minute I decided against it. Our Kokanee were caught on Sep’s Watermelon Dodger with a RMT Assassin Spinner and Pautzke Fire Cured Corn. The best depth was 35 to 40 feet. We did release two fish that were about the size of the dodger. The Kokanee we kept averaged 12″.www.fishtightlines.com

A tough day on Lake Oroville Fishing today! We started in the North Fork and landed and released three bass. After another hour we finally landed a nice King Salmon in the same general area. We continued to work that stretch of the North Fork without another touch. We also fished Bidwell Point, the area around the Green Bridge and the North wall by the ramp. Finally, we hooked and landed a nice Coho that measured just over 23” just out from the Buoy line. The final count for the day was 3 Bass, 1 Coho and 1 King. Both Salmon were caught on a Pro Troll Flasher with a Berkley Gulp Minnow behind Shark Cannonballs. The Coho was caught at 45’ and the King at 35’. We also pulled spoons, Squid with strips of Anchovies without a touch. www.FishTightLines.com or Call (888) 975-0990

We hit the water in search of Stampede Kokanee at 6:00 AM and started just off the rock pile. We marked very few Kokanee in that area. We worked our way towards the Island until we found a couple nice schools of Kokanee. We started off working the deeper Kokanee (45′ to 60′) without a touch. I brought one line up the the shallower fish at 30 feet and we immediately hooked up. We continued to work both these depths and finally started hooking the deeper ones as well. The deeper fish seemed to me a little bigger and heavier but for some reason didn’t have much fight compared to the shallower fish. The Kokanee we caught today were 13 to 14″ and a little heavier than the ones we have been getting.

I had the day open and needed to check out Donner Lake Kokanee for the first time this year. I took two of my granddaughters Brooke and Charlotte along. We launched a little after 6:00 AM. I went straight across the lake and started trolling. I wasn’t marking any fish as we worked our way up the lake. We moved over in front of Loch Leven Lodge where there was a couple other boats working. We started marking nice schools of fish at 35” and 55’. It wasn’t long before we started hooking Kokanee at 35’. We couldn’t get the fish at 55’ to hit anything. The girls had two limits of Kokanee and back on the Trailer at 8:30 AM. Our Donner Lake Kokanee were caught on Sep’s Side Kick’s and 4/0 Dodgers both in Watermelon color and a RMT Assassin spinner tipped with Pautzke Fire Corn. The fish we caught today were about the same size as Stampede Kokanee, they averaged 12”. Donner is in great shape, plenty of water and no issues launching. www.FishTightLines.com

Today, we are at Lake Oroville Fishing. We launched at 6:00 AM and started working the area around the dam and spillway. After about an hour with no action we headed up the North Fork arm. We dropped in and went for another hour before we got our first hit. We continued to work this area landing two Coho’s and two Kings. The largest fish was a 24” Coho. The bite was definitely different and slower than just a couple days ago. The water temp was up to 73 deg. And the lake level had dropped at least two feet. One thing that was different today than the last time we were on Oroville is the fish seemed to be right on the bottom in 40 to 60 feet of water as opposed to a few days ago we found them in deep water suspended 30 to 50 feet. We talked to four other fishing boats and the story was the same…. It’s slow today. Our fish were caught on a Pro Troll Flasher and a Berkley Gulp Minnow behind Shark Cannonballs. www.FishTightLines.com

When I left Grass Valley at 3:45 AM this morning it was clear and warm. When I got to the summit it was raining. You can never tell what the weather will be on the other side of the summit. After putting on the rain gear we headed out in search of the schools of Stampede Kokanee. The big school I had been working for the last couple weeks had moved, we didn’t go far before we found another school in front of the Island. We started hooking Kokanee at 25 to 30 feet deep. The action wasn’t as fast as it had been but given the fact the wind was blowing making it hard to keep trolling speed at the right spot and the dark clouds and barometer doing who knows what…we did good. We had three limits of Kokanee cleaned and bagged within a couple hours. The tackle we were using was a Sep’s Watermelon Dodger with a Green and Pink RMT Assassin spinner and a Dick Night Pink Splatter Dodger with the same spinner were the best today. Our corn was Shoepeg Corn cured with Pautzke Fire Cure. The fish today averaged 12 to 13 inches. They were not big but fat good eating Kokanee.